Assignment

1. Each person in the course will find an object lying around his/her apartment or dorm room, identify the material the object is made from to the best of his/her ability (be able to explain your reasoning), look up at least ten properties for that material, and provide a definition for each of these properties.  Material handbooks located in the reference section of the library and online property databases may be very useful.  The following are some items that previous students chose.

• Example Properties
• Suggested Format
• ASM Desk Editions
  (see Engineered Materials Handbook)
  (see Metals Handbook)

2. Each person will also experimentally estimate the material's coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE).  You may refer to ASTM D6341 for example testing procedures.  Based on the limitations of the available equipment, your specimen should be less than 12" long and have measurable dimensional changes going from room temperature to approximately -20 ^oF.  At least two distinct dimensions (e.g. diameter and length) should be measured.  Specimens with larger dimensions and larger CTE usually provide better results.

• Data Sheet
• Equipment
• Sample Results

3. Summarize your results, as per your teachers' instructions, and submit at the start of your next lab class.  Bring your material to the lab meeting in case your teachers or classmates ask to see them.  Reports should include references for the accepted CTE values.  You may also wish to answer some of the following questions.

• Why did you choose the material that you did?
• What type of material it is composed of?  Is it homogeneous?  Is it a composite?
• What considerations were given to specimen geometry (hollow, solid, round, rectangular, etc.)?
• What is the material's full name (e.g. 2024-T4 aluminum)?  Material handbooks are very specific.  How did you know which name corresponded to your material?  Did you guess?
• Was it easy to find ten reference properties for your material?
• Did you use library resources and/or the web?
• What kind of properties did you find -- mechanical, chemical, optical, etc?
• Was it difficult to measure the CTE value?
• What precautions were made to insure the best possible measurements were made using the available equipment?  For example, did you mark the caliper contact points to insure the same dimension was measured before and after freezing?  Did you average the length over a specific region?  Did you check surface temperature before and after dimensions were measured?
• What other products might your material be used for?  Why?